The water industry provides drinking water and wastewater services (including sewage treatment) to residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of the economy. Typically public utilities operate water supply networks. The water industry does not include manufacturers and suppliers of bottled water, which is part of the beverage production and belongs to the food sector.
The water industry includes water engineering, operations, water and wastewater plant construction, equipment supply and specialist water treatment chemicals, among others.
The water industry is at the service of other industries, e.g. of the food sector which produces beverages such as bottled water.
There are a variety of organizational structures for the water industry, with countries usually having one dominant traditional structure, which usually changes only gradually over time.
local government - the most usual structure worldwide, public utility
national government - in many developing countries, especially smaller ones
private ownership - more common in the developed world, see for example Water privatisation in England and Wales
co-operative ownership and related NGO structures, public utility
local government operating the system through a municipal department, municipal company, or inter-municipal company
local government outsources operations to private sector, i.e. private water operators
national government operations
private water operators owns the system
BOTs - private sector building parts of a water system (such as a wastewater treatment plant) and operating it for an agreed period before transferring to public sector ownership and operation.
cooperation and NGO operators
Integrated water system (water supply, sewerage (sanitation) system, and wastewater treatment)
Separation by function (e.g. Dutch system where sewerage run by city, water supply by municipal or provincial companies, and water treatment by water boards), though some Water Supply Companies have merged beyond municipal or provincial borders.
Other separation (e.
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slightly over two-thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. The remaining unfrozen freshwater is found mainly as groundwater, with only a small fraction present above ground or in the air. Natural sources of fresh water include surface water, under river flow, groundwater and frozen water.
Public water system is a regulatory term used in the United States and Canada, referring to certain utilities and organizations providing drinking water. The US Safe Drinking Water Act and derivative legislation define "public water system" as an entity that provides "water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances to at least 15 service connections or serves an average of at least 25 people for at least 60 days a year." The term "public" in "public water system" refers to the people drinking the water, not to the ownership of the system.
Water chlorination is the process of adding chlorine or chlorine compounds such as sodium hypochlorite to water. This method is used to kill bacteria, viruses and other microbes in water. In particular, chlorination is used to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera, dysentery, and typhoid. In a paper published in 1894, it was formally proposed to add chlorine to water to render it "germ-free". Two other authorities endorsed this proposal and published it in many other papers in 1895.
This course provides students with an overview over the basics of environmental chemistry. This includes the chemistry of natural systems, as well as the fate of anthropogenic chemicals in natural sys
Modernism has instilled within us a fear for leaks, consequently fostering a desire for a hygienic, comfortable, and
hermetic environment. We live in a watertight vessel. However, in the event of a gl
Les systèmes eaux et déchets en Suisse: du traitement end-of-pipe à la fermeture des cycles. Principes de l'adduction, de l'évacuation et du traitement des eaux. Bases du dimensionnement des ouvrages,
Learn about how the quality of water is a direct result of complex bio-geo-chemical interactions, and about how to use these processes to mitigate water quality issues.
Incidents where water networks are contaminated with microorganisms or pollutants can result in a large number of infected or ill persons, and it is therefore important to quickly detect, localize and estimate the spread and source of the contamination. In ...
Guanine crystals are frequently encountered in nature in the beta-polymorph to create structural colors, to enhance the vision of creatures, and for camouflage. Unfortunately, it is challenging to control the crystallization of guanine in aqueous condition ...
This publication summarizes my journey in the field of chemical oxidation processes for water treatment over the last 30+ years. Initially, the efficiency of the application of chemical oxidants for micropollutant abatement was assessed by the abatement of ...